1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printer with an automatic cutter for cutting paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 3 shows a conventional method of testing a printer with an automatic cutter. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 denotes a testing device for testing the printer 33, and reference numeral 32 denotes a connection cable for supplying test data from the testing device 31 to the printer 33 to be tested. Various kinds of tests for the printer 33 of FIG. 3 include a printing test, a lamp test and an automatic cutter test, and so on. Particularly, to ensure a proper operation of the automatic cutter after assembling the printer, it is necessary to operate the automatic cutter at least several tens of times for testing purposes. The other tests need to be done only once, and therefore should preferably be conducted independently of the automatic cutter test from the viewpoint of efficiency. In this manner, the test data for the automatic cutter test and the test data for the other tests may be fed from the testing device separately from each other.
FIG. 4 shows another conventional equipment for testing a printer, using only the printer. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 42 denotes the printer, and reference numeral 41 denotes switches for setting test items. A test program for the printer is activated, and a desired test item is selected by the switch or switches 41. For stopping the test, a power source is turned off, or the setting of the switches is changed. Thus, various tests can be conducted independently of one another even by using only the printer.
However, in the conventional method of FIG. 3, the specially-designed testing device is needed, and therefore there has been encountered a problem that the continuous test of the automatic cutter can not be conducted at places where this testing device is not provided. The conventional test method of FIG. 4 depending on the switches also suffers from a problem that special component parts for testing purposes must be provided.